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Shoreview man gets 5 years, 8 months for role in St. Paul gang murder

By Kia Farhangkfarhang@pioneerpress.com

Posted:
09/11/2013 12:01:00 AM CDT

Updated:
09/11/2013 09:42:17 PM CDT

Cornelius Bell, of Shoreview, was sentenced to five years and eight months for conspiracy to commit a felony, two counts of aiding an offender, and crime committed for benefit of a crime - aiding an offender in connection to the Oct. 14, 2012 homicide of Naressa Turner. (Courtesy of Ramsey County sheriff's office)

A Shoreview man was sentenced Wednesday to five years and eight months in prison for his role as an accomplice in the gang- related murder of Naressa Turner in St. Paul's Dayton's Bluff neighborhood.

Cornelius Bell, 25, admitted he misled police in their investigation of Turner's Oct. 14 death. He'll likely be released in about three years.

A masked gunman shot Turner several times as she sat in a car parked in an alley in the 900 block of Reaney Avenue. A jury in June determined the shooter was Joseph H. Campbell of St. Paul, and he drew a life sentence with no chance of parole.

Prosecutors allege Bell had gotten out of a vehicle with Campbell minutes before Turner was shot. Bell told police he was not in the area when the shooting occurred, but prosecutors argued he heard the shots and might have seen them.

At sentencing, Ramsey County District Judge Judith Tilsen said it was "disturbing" that Bell and Campbell got out of a car together so close to the time of the murder. But she said she didn't hand down a longer sentence because Bell's immediate knowledge of the shooting hadn't been proven.

Campbell, a member of the East Side Boys gang, killed Turner because she had switched allegiances to a rival gang, according to testimony. Bell's defense denied claims that he was a gang member and said he misled police because he feared what would happen to him and his family if the gang found out he had cooperated with investigators.

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A third man, Dangelo Masterjohn, pleaded guilty to aiding a fellow gang member last month. He is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 18.